Public health: respiratory activity easing; state measles surge noted and environmental-health inspections improving
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Summary
Sawyer County public health reported regional respiratory activity is decreasing but still high, noted 733 national measles cases in early 2026, and said the county inspected 629 of 921 licensed facilities (68.3%) with 27 overdue inspections (2.93%, below the state 5% threshold).
Public-health staff updated the board Feb. 10 on respiratory illnesses, measles trends and environmental-health inspections.
"Looking at regional respiratory activity, it is high right now, but it is decreasing," Julie said. She told the board that nationally there were 733 measles cases within five weeks of 2026, compared with 2,276 cases for all of 2025, and that Wisconsin had two cases on the state dashboard and a recent Walworth County press-release case.
Julie also reviewed environmental-health licensing: Sawyer County has 921 licensed facilities; 27 were overdue at the time of the report (an overdue rate of 2.93%), which is below the state's 5% threshold. She said 629 facilities have been inspected this fiscal year, representing 68.3% of the total facilities and that the county is working ahead of schedule on inspections. Many overdue facilities are seasonal or closed.
Board members questioned the number of short-term rentals among licensed facilities; staff estimated "about 600-some" but said the exact number would be provided later. The health department has posted a seasonal LTE position to maintain inspection capacity and is coordinating corrective actions with the consortium where conditional status had been placed in January.
On laboratory capacity, staff said the county currently sends nitrate testing out to external labs and will continue to do so until it can evaluate cost-effectiveness and code changes are finalized.
No new emergency actions were taken; staff said they will follow up with exact short-term-rental counts and continue the consortium corrective-action work.
